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Despite the hefty price tag, the cost of last year’s catastrophes is a vast improvement from 2011 when losses topped $US400 billion following a raft of devastating disasters such as the Christchurch earthquake and Japanese tsunami. Insured losses soared to US$119 billion two years ago.

Munich Re’s data showed that the number of catastrophes in the Asia Pacific region had also fallen compared with 2011.

Typhoon Bopha had the heaviest toll in the region. In other parts of Asia Pacific, there were several flooding events in China and Australia. The figures showed that flooding in southeast and eastern Australia between the end of January and mid-March last year cost $US280 million in insured losses.

“Over the past few years, the economic crisis has made it more difficult for governments to manage their financial situation following severe natural catastrophes," Munich Re’s chief executive of South East Asia, Bernd Kohn, said in a statement.

“They are now looking more into pre-disaster risk management solutions such as pools and insurance, as it is crucial to bring a country’s economy back on track after a disaster."

As insurers continue to monitor their exposures to risk and price their premiums according, climate change represents another key issue on some companies’ agenda.

Research by Citi last month showed that insurance companies in australia should adapt their businesses to the effects of climate change, in theory – but they could face some tough challenges if the changes come faster than anticipated.

If the industry is seeing the “early impacts" of climate change or is about to see an uptrend of severe events, questions remain around the speed of these changes, and whether the insurance industry’s response timing is appropriate, Citi insurance analyst Nigel Pittaway said.

“If the speed of change is gradual, it is likely that insurers will be able to adapt their pricing in line with higher risks," Mr Pittaway wrote in a note to clients.

“If change is faster than the industry anticipates, the predictive models may lag reality, and insurance companies’ performance could suffer."

Insurers’ performance could deteriorate due to higher than expected levels of moderate events such as storms, hiked up reinsurance costs and catastrophes that exceed the “highest" events planned and reinsured for, he noted.

The group said that the cost was in line with its expectations incorporated into its FY2013 insurance margin guidance of 11 to 13 per cent.

IAG chief executive Mike Wilkins told The Australian Financial Review in December that the group’s reinsurance costs had stabilised, and now represented around 8¢ in the premium dollar compared with 6¢ in 2011.